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The Tall Book: A Celebration Of Life From On High (2009)

by Arianne Cohen(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1596913088 (ISBN13: 9781596913080)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Bloomsbury USA

review 1: This book was 5 stars amazing, and trust me, I have only rated one other books as 5 stars. To me "amazing" must mean powerfully meaningful and/or life altering, and this book was. I went on to spread The Tall Book gospel and passed it along to other tall female friends. I have asked every tall woman I have met socially if she has read it. I can't say there is any other book where I have gone about recommending it so much. So what made it 5 stars? It completely validated my life experiences as a tall woman. I would not recommend this book to anyone under 5'10" in height because you won't find it relevant, and it is very tall-affirming. I really liked Cohen's style of blending narrative with lots of statistics and research. While I have lived my whole life as tall, I never r... moreeally thought about tallness in and of itself as a distinct identity quality. This book has completely changed my worldview and raised my awareness of how much my height interacts with my life in everyday situations. I found it validating to my routine experiences of having to accommodate to an enviroment that was not designed for tall women -- from clothes, to furniture, etc. (I particularly like her commentary about the notion of universal design -- something that is slowly gaining speed in the States.) It also provided many self-esteem boosting statistics that favor the life outcomes for tall persons. Finally, it made me look at the world differently and how height plays a role in communication, workplace situations, social situations, etc. For instance, the last three women hired by my department are 6 feet tall. Coincidence? Could be, but the book also points out that tall women are more likely to be promoted to leadership positions because they command the same amount of attention as men in face to face dialog which offsets gender discrimination in the workplace. I realize my review may sound a bit corny, but I am honestly enthusiastic about this book. Prior to this book I felt like my height only gave me the advantage of never needing a step ladder and people always being able to spot me in a crowd before I spot them (needless to say I never get lost with a group). Now I recognize all of these other benefits. I feel naive that I never paid attention to this aspect of my identity, and I am thankful that this brought raised my awareness and brought it to the forefront of my attention.
review 2: Everyone who even vaguely knows someone over 5'10" or so should read this ..... really! It gives the perspective of, "life from on high." The author is Dave's height of 6'3" and she describes going to a tall convention where for the first time in her life a) no one noticed her in a crowd and b) she couldn't see because someone taller was blocking her view. The book talks about the concept of universal design - used in some countries (I think Denmark and Holland), to for example make bus seats fit people of all different heights and yet not change the passenger capacity. She talks about people constantly having the initial reaction upon meeting her of telling her that she's tall (I've heard short people get this too) and all tall people evidently get asked every day if they play basketball - and lots of other comments that people say. One other interesting anecdote is that extremely tall people apparently live happily in small towns, because after the initial double-take there, people then just get on with their lives - as in, "oh, that's so-and-so that lives down the street." Whereas in big cities the constant anonymity actually causes more commotion - people whipping out cameras, etc. I skipped some chapters, but I also closed the cover and went and re-arranged the kitchen, putting a few pans up in a higher cupboard! (I didn't mean for it to be inconvenient, that's just always where the pans were in every house I knew growing up - even with tall people in the family!) less

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